Suction cleaner



Feb. 1, 1944. P. T. HAHN sucnon CLEANER Filed Dec. 9, 1940 l t e e a S te e h S INVENTOR Paul Zb'afin ATTORNEY Feb. 1, 1944. v P. 'r. HAHNSUCTION CLEANER Filed Dec. 9, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Paul ZHafinATTORNEY closed comprises a main cleaner casing formed of twocomplementary sections II and I2 Patented Feb. I l, 1944 SUCTION CLEANERPaul T. Hahn, Detroit, Mich., assignor to The Hoover Company, NorthCanton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application December 9, 1940, SerialNo. 369,149

4 Claims.

This invention relates to suction cleaners and more particularly tocasings therefor.

An object of the invention is to provide a clean er casing composed oftwo complementary sections separated along the vertical median line ofthe motor housing, fan chamber and nozzle. Another object is to providea two-part cleaner casing having a fan chamber liner which forms a wallof the fan chamber and spans the meeting edges between the twocomplementary cleaner casing sections. A further object is to provide aliner which forms a wall of the nozzle and spans the meeting edgesbetween'the two complementary cleaner casing sections. Further objectsand advantages of the invention will be apparent from the specificationand drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a casing section, and

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the two casing sections showing themseparated at an angle of 180 degrees with respect to each other.

The embodiment of the invention herein diswhich are bolted togetheralong the vertical median line of the main cleaner casing. Each casingsection is preferably produced by a molding process using Bakelite" orother type of plastic, and which are so molded as to eliminate sidecores during the molding process.

A nozzle l3 at the front end of the main casing is provided with frontand rear nozzle lips l4 and I5 and communicates with a suctionpassageway l6 extending upwardly and rearwardly Y section, and a dustbag 32 is removably attached to the bag flange 30.

The motor housing 26 is formed by the cooperating casing sections II andI2 to house a motor 34, semi-circular ribs 35, 35 being provided in eachcasing section for the reception of the motor bearings 36, 36 to supportthe motor in a downwardly rearwardly inclined position. The motor 34 isof the unicoil type and is provided with an armature shaft 31,commutator 38, and a single coil 39 which is disposed at one side of thearmature 40 and along the bottom wall 4| of the cleaner casing Ill. Themotor brushes 42, 42 are supported in the casing section II and a cavity43 is formed in the latter for the motor circuit conductors 44. A motorventilating fan 45 is arranged in a fan chamber 46 provided in the eastothe inlet opening ll of a fan chamber I8 which of the top casing wallwhich extends substantially horizontally rearwardly from the upper endof the inclined casing front wall i9. Depending from the partition 2| isa wall 24 forming the side wall of the fan chamber, and the bottom wallof the latter is formed by a partition 25 which also forms a Wall of themotor housing 26.

Communicating with the fan chamber I8 is an exhaust passageway 21defined by the top horizontal casing wall 22, depending side walls 28,28 and a partition 29 which forms a substantial horizontal continuationof the motor housing top ing In between the commutator and lower motorbearing and communicates with a passageway 41 which has its outlet 48 inthe rear wall 3 of the casing below the bag flange 30. The ventilatingfan chamber 46 and passageway 41 are formed by complementary partitions50, 56 in each casing section. An air inlet opening 46 is' provided inthe side wall of the casing section II adjacent the coil 39, whereby theventilating fan 45 draws air through the inlet opening 48 and thenceover the motor 34 into the fan chamber 46 and discharges the air throughthe passageway 41 to cool the motor.

A suction fan 5| is disposed in the fan chamber l8 and is rotated by'themotor 34 which also rotates a pulley 52 for driving a surface agitatingmember 53 by means of a belt 54 arranged in the suction passageway l6.The surface agitating member 53 is removably and rotatably mounted inthe nozzle l3 by means of spring latch members 55 arranged in theopposite end walls 56 of the nozzle I3.

The cleaner casing is supported on front and rear wheels 51 mounted'onshafts 58 extending through the cleaner casing. In order to convert thecleaner from an on-the-fioor type to an olfthe-floor cleaner, aconverter opening 59 is provided in the inclined top casing front wallI! opposite the fan chamber inlet I1 and is normally closed by aremovable cover plate 66. The converter opening 59 is formed bycomplementary semi-circular ribs 6| in each casing section.

Prior to assembling the cleaner, 3, fan casing liner is inserted in thatportion of the fan chamber l8 defined in the casing section H. The

liner is provided with a top wall 56 and a depending side wall 61 whichconforms to the upper wall 2| and side wall 24 of the fan chamber, andis provided with a substantially U-shaped portion 69 that lines threewalls of the exhaust passageway 21. Arranged in the casing section II isa nozzle liner 10 which conforms to the inner surface of the upper wallof the nozzle l3. The nozzle liner I is provided with bolts H along itslongitudinal edges to locate it in proper position by securing the boltsto the two casing section II and I2.

After the fan chamber liner 65 and nozzle liner H! are positioned in thecasing section H, as shown in Figure 2, the motor 34 and fans 45 and 5|ar inserted as a unit in the casing section II,

and thereafter the casing section I2 is bolted thereto by means of thebolts 13 and nozzle liner retaining bolts H extending through bothcasing sections.

It will be noted that the fan chamber liner 65 forms walls of the fanchamber l8 and spans the meeting edges between the casing sections I Iand nozzle and prevent leakage of dirt-laden air be-' tween the meetingedges of the casing sections. In operation, for normal on-the-fioorcleaning,

the motor 34 rotates the fan 5! and surface agitating member 53 tocreate suction and remove the dirt from the surface undergoing cleaning.The dirt is drawn into the nozzle I 3 and is pre.- vented from passingthrough the meeting edges between the two casing sections II and I2because of the presence of the nozzle liner 10. When the dirt enters thefan chamber I 8, it is thrown against the side and upper walls of thefan chamber and thus these walls must be airtight and able to withstanda severe abrasive effect. Since the fan casing liner 65 forms walls ofthe fan chamber it protects the molded plastic fan chamber walls and dueto the fact that it spans the meeting edges between the two casing alongthe front wall of said nozzle which is subject to contact with furnitureduring movement of the cleaner over the surface being cleaned, saidmeans spanning the meeting edges of said frangible nozzle to form areinforcing wall substantially the length of the front relativelyfrangible nozzle wall.

2. A suction cleaner comprising a body of relatively frangible materialand having a relatively frangible suction nozzle at the front thereof,said body being formed of two sections separable ver-\ tically from theforward nozzle wall to the rear of said body, each body section formingcomple-\ mentary portions of said relatively frangible noz zle, means ofgreater strength than said relatively frangible material, said meansarranged along the front wall of said nozzle which is subject to contactwith furniture during movement of the cleaner over the surface beingcleaned, said means spanning the meeting edges of said frangible nozzleto form a reinforcing wall substantially the length of the frontrelatively frangible nozzle wall, and retaining means on saidreinforcing means and said body sections for positioning saidreinforcing means along said front nozzle wall and to removably securesaid body sections together.

3. A suction cleaner comprising a body of relatively frangible materialand having a relatively frangible cavity having a, side wall and opposedend walls, said body being formed of two sections separable verticallyof said body and through an opening in one of said cavity end walls,each body section forming complementary portions of said relativelyfrangible cavity, means of greater strength than said relativelyfrangible material, said means lining said cavity side wall and said oneend wall to form the side wall and one end wall and eye of a fanchamber, said means spanning the meeting edges of said body sections atthe eye of said fan chamber, said means reinforcing walls of saidrelatively frangible fan chamber and preventing leakage of air betweenthe meeting edges of said fan eye into said fan chamber, and means forsecuring said body sections together to draw the side wall of saidfrangible cavity transversely against the side wall of said liningmeans.

4. A suction cleaner comprising a body of relatively frangible materialand having a relatively frangible nozzle at the front thereof, arelatively frangible fan chamber, and a relatively frangible airpassageway therebetween, said body being formed of two sectionsseparable vertically from the forward nozzle wall to the rear of saidbody, each body section forming complementary p'ortions of saidrelatively frangible nozzle, air passageway and fan chamber, reinforcingmeans of greater strength than said frangible nozzle spanning themeeting edges of said body at said nozzle and extending along the frontWall thereof to withstand the shock when said nozzle contacts furnitureduring cleaning, means lining the side and end walls of said frangiblefan chamber and spanning the meeting edges of said body at said fanchamber to reinforce the same and prevent leakage of air between saidmeeting edges into said fan chamber, means for securing said nozzlereinforcing means and said body sections together, and means forsecuring said body sections together to draw the walls of .saidfrangible fan chamber transversely against said fan chamber lining meansto position the latter in said fan chamber.

PAUL T. HAHN.

